On Feb. 8, 8 sold-out audience of about 1,400 LGBTQ+ Chicagoans and their allies gathered in the ballroom of the Chicago Hilton, 720 S. Michigan Ave., for Equality Illinois’s 2025 gala. This year’s event marked several pivotal moments for the advocacy organization: the 10th anniversary of nationwide marriage equality; a renewed commitment to facing relentless legal and political challenges facing transgender and gender-nonconforming community members; and marking the upcoming departure of Equality Illinois’s longtime CEO, Brian Johnson.
About 100 local politicians joined the celebration, among them Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who said that he was optimistic that the city would remain an “inclusive haven for the LGBTQ+ community,” further promising the city would “push back and move forward.” Chicago, he added, is a place where “you get to love and you get to love out loud. … God bless the greatest freakin’ city in the world.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was greeted with a standing ovation prior to his remarks, where he echoed some of the mayor’s words, praising efforts for the region to be a “beacon of hope and a safe haven for LGBTQ+ families across the nation.” He noted that, even as other parts of the country attempt to roll back rights for their citizens, Illinois still has both a law mandating the inclusion of LGBTQ+ history in school curriculums and a commitment to reducing the number of new HIV transmissions down to zero by the year 2030.
Pritzker further recalled canvassing for Larry McKeon, Illinois’s first openly gay state representative, adding, “We’ve come a long way.” Acknowledging the flood of socio-political attacks against the community in recent months, he said, “I won’t pretend to know what lies ahead in the next four years,” and urged the audience to “keep loving each other, keep celebrating—but keep ready to fight like hell.”
Former House Majority Leader Greg Harris and Illinois Department of Human Rights Director James Bennett presented Equality Illinois’s Spotlight Award to activist James Obergefell, plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, which led to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage equality. Obergefell dedicated the award to fellow activist Edie Windsor before acknowledging the “anger, fear and disillusionment” that many in the audience likely shared given recent events.
He further spoke to transgender and gender non-conforming Americans: “I see you. You exist. You do not deserve the hate that falls your way.” Obergefell lamented that some in the gay community had not shown up for the challenges facing transgender people: “Some only care about…their particular color of the rainbow—that must end. … The only way we will survive and thrive is by linking hands and working together.”
Equality Illinois’s 2025 Organization Award went to the Sex Workers Advisory Group (SWAG). Equality Illinois Board Member Reyna Ortiz, accepting on behalf of the group, opened with a quote from Pearl S. Buck: “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday,” and noted an “unrelenting truth” that right-wing elements fail to comprehend: “…[G]ender diversity has existed on these lands for thousands of years.”
The award, Ortiz noted, “honors the fearlessness and brutal resilience of SWAG”; she further said, “I guarantee that everyone in this room can learn something from a sex worker.”
In his remarks, Brian Johnson looked back to the beginning of his tenure as Equality Illinois CEO. Marriage equality was then a fresh victory for the LGBTQ+ community, and Brian was warned that that there was little call for further activism in the community.
“I took the job because I know that when we are not fighting for power, we are losing power,” Brian said.
While also acknowledging the anger and fear in the community towards escalating anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, Brian nevertheless reminded the audience, “We come from people who protest and act out our courage every day. … Our joy in ourselves in the face of people who want to shame us is our super-power.”
He asked the audience to remember that, even with the flood of executive orders from President Donald Trump in recent weeks, “[Trump’s] power is limited … Nothing in these orders changed Illinois law.”
He urged that the LGBTQ+ community legally slow down the implementation of those orders “at every turn,” before reminding all to stay committed to advocating and agitating on behalf of its transgender and gender-nonconforming members.
“Let’s show Illinois and the rest of the country what can happen when queer people lead,” Brian said.
Additional presenters at the event included Equality Illinois Co-Founder Arthur Johnston; Deputy Director Mony Ruiz-Velasco (who also recently announced her upcoming departure); Director of Public Policy Michael Ziri; Director of Communications and Press Secretary Myles Brady Davis; Director of Leadership Development and Capacity Building Norma Seledon; Director of Civic Engagement Jose Wilson; Board Chair Justin Dejong; and Board Member Channyn Lynne Parker. Steven Brown, vice president of diversity & inclusion for Molson Coors, also presented.
Equality Illinois 2025 Gala. Photo by Kat Fitzgerald/Mystic Images Photography
